Canterbury Farmer Builds on 160 Years of Dairy Legacy
Gareth Hale is the current custodian of a 160-year legacy that saw his great grandfather dairying in Taranaki since the mid-1850s and grandfather dairying in the Waikato from the early 1900s.
Now available on the New Zealand market, the R310R is a 3.1m, vertical fold, rear-mounted machine that is claimed to be built for speed and performance – while offering manoeuvrability.
John Deere says it is ideally suited to operations where paddock size suits nimble 100hp tractors. Marketing manager Fraser Scott claims the machine will deliver better-quality forage at a lower cost.
“Over recent years both contactor and farming customers have told us they need a MoCo that can perform in tight paddocks and manoeuvre through narrow gateways and lanes,” he says. “As a vertical fold machine, the R310R meets both of those requirements.”
Scott adds that oblique folding at 126 degrees and a pivoting point close to the tractor results in better weight balance and enhances stability – including when it is being road transported.
“In fact, the machine can cover long transport distances at speeds of up to 50km/h – where local laws permit.”
The R310R has been designed to cut cleanly and prevent chopping. Another feature of the machine is quick change knives to minimise service times and give operators more hours cutting hay.
“Compared to standard bolted knives, the time-saving capacity offered by quick change knives is striking,” Scott claims.
“Further to this, it also has bolted-on, as opposed to welded-on, skid plates on the bottom of the cutterbar as another means to increase ease and speed of maintenance.”
The R310R is said to hug ground contours even in extreme topographies, with knives and the cutterbar lifting to both avoid rises and ensure hay quality is not affected by the addition of dirt or stones to the windrow.
Its adjustable hydraulic suspension also lowers ground pressure to protect plant cover, while keeping fuel consumption down and impurities out.
John Deere has ensured the R310R can be specified with a tine impeller conditioner or rubber conditioning rollers to suit to a broad range of applications, from high-density crops to those which need to be handled more gently.
“Safety is also something that has been prioritised through inclusion of a ‘break away’ function whereby if a foreign object such as a fence post is struck the machine will break away before automatically returning to the normal position,” Scott adds.
“Effective overload protection of moving parts on the cutterbar in case of impact with foreign objects is also a feature.”
The R310R mower/conditioner is available for order now.
